European DVD & American Cinema Release Date for Mary (2005)

This will be old news to anyone who also follows my friend Peter Chattaway's blog, but The Reeler has announced that IFC Films will be distributing Abel Ferrara's recent film Mary.

Though it's not yet been confirmed on the IFC Films' website it's encouraging news. The film has already been released in France, Italy, and a number of other European Nations, but has only been seen at a handful of film festivals in the US, and not at all in the UK. Whilst that means it will still be a while until I get to see it, it means that there is at least a chance I will get to see it in a cinema at some stage.

Even more encouraging is the news that Mary is being release onto DVD in Europe in October. Unfortunately the information at the Amazon.fr website doesn't reveal whether it will be dubbed or subtitled for French customers and so I can't work out whether or not someone who only speaks English will be able to watch it and, more importantly, understand it. It is apparently going to be a 2 disc, "Edition Collector". I'll be interested to see what extras are actually going to be on the discs once more details about the DVD are released. 2 discs for an 83 minute, relatively obscure, film suggests that there will be a number of extra features. Back in February I suggested that Alex Grazioli's Odyssey in Rome would be one of them given it is essentially a making of / behind the scenes affair. Elsewhere, Jeffrey Wells has suggested that Rafi Pitts' Ferrara documentary Not Guilty should also be included.

There's also a tantalising discussion of the film by Robert Davis at Paste magazine. The brief review ends

The movie examines the relationship between performance and contrition. All the characters are actors; some are trying to open a channel to God while others are putting on a show intended to earn some grace. It’s a fitting topic for Ferrara, whose movies frequently embrace the same contradictions. They’re all here in Mary—the excess, the guilt and the search for truth. Intriguingly jumbled with some assembly required.